By: Micey Song
What is the top platform in China? Where can people find the latest Chinese trends? Who has the most weibo users in China?
The answer to all of these questions is the same: SINA weibo.
As the top platform in China, SINA weibo is always developing new features to give users the best experience via innovative methods of connecting users and brands. Currently, there are 2 options for advertising onSINA weibo – Sticky Post & Fensi Tong.
What is Sticky Post?
Personal and enterprise accounts are able to use this method
of promotion. The promoted post will be the first post in your follower’s page
after they log in and will disappear in 24 hours.
The promotion price for this single post is dependent on your
number of weibo followers and the quality of your articles. The more followers
you have, the more expensive it is. Similarly, if you have a high quality of
articles, the post becomes cheaper. On another note, if you want to promote a
post with a link, the price will be higher than one without a URL. This being
said, SINA will always offer you a fair price.
What about Fensi Tong?
How do you find your target audience? How do you connect all
weibo users to your message? I believe these questions bother many people who
work in Chinese digital marketing and social media. In 2013, SINA took a big
step and solved this problem by launching Fensi Tong. By filtering the age,
gender, region, Interests or any customized key words, you can send your brand’s
message to specified users, even your competitor’s followers. If you want, your
post can also reach ALL users’ page, whether these users follow your account or
not. These users will receive your post on their main page. It has the same
layout as other posts, but it is signaled by the phrase “Weibo Promote”.
The next logical question obviously deals with the cost
structure of this feature. There are two options for purchasing this service: Cost
per Engagement (CPE) or Cost per Mille (CPM). Usually, the CPM is the most effective
way to reach more weibo followers with your message. CPM uses real-time ad
bidding as a standard. The lowest price for CPM is 5CNY per 1,000 accounts. On
the other hand, CPE costs 0.5CNY for one engagement. During the promotion days, you
can manage your daily cost and schedule the time to push your message.
With WeChat recently entering the advertising arena, it will
be interesting to see which method ends up being more effective and user
friendly.